Then I'll take your answer to be that Israel's settlement building is putting its people in more danger, and leave it at that (unless you're referring to a different answer). The only difference is that I think the attack is unjustified and Hamas doesn't? Yes, I think that's a rather important difference. When you said earlier that the settlement building is making Israel less secure, how is that different from saying that the settlement building is a "cause" for the attacks that are making Israel less secure? Do you now think it is dangerous for us to point out that settlement building is bad for Israel's security?
I think it is an inappropriate response to a terror attack against Israeli civilians, as it creates a cause-effect impression as if there wasn't a decision of free will by the terrorists and their puppet masters to kill civilians in between. To go back to your rape victim comparison, it's like saying "why was she wearing provocative clothes" about a rape victim. Was this possibly part of the cause she was raped? Yes. Does it make the statement appropriate? No.
That is what happens when the other side is using human shields. It isn't like there are times the Israelis could attack when the terrorists are not around civilians. You are asking them to never respond, ever, to terrorist attacks. That is preposterous. It isn't like there is a Hamas base out in the desert that Israel can shell. They fire mortars and rockets from residential areas precisely because they know people like you will condemn Israel when the return fire kills civilians. Heck, I would be all for Hamas setting up isolated bases and only attacking military targets using uniformed soldiers. I am not going to condemn the IDF for fighting (and winning) on the terms that Hamas dictates by their tactics though.
If this victim was your child, and subsequently she continued to go out wearing very provocative clothes, you wouldn't explain that it puts her in danger and she should probably wear something else? Personally, I find the notion that pointing out this connection is inappropriate and/or somehow justifies rape is very dangerous thinking.
But both sides have been guilty of using human shield, including the IDF taking people who were children and making them march in front at gunpoint and lead the way into dangerous areas. It's wrong no matter which side does it. As far as using bombs where civilians are it depends on the situation. If the civilians are around a base or ammo storage area, or anything like that, it is regrettable. But if a bomb or missle is used because one hamas official is at a school or apartment building, then it is disproportionate force.
I see what you are saying, but in this example, the reason why you point it out is to protect your child, but in the Israel case, the reason for some people (and I do not mean you) to point out the settlements is to deflect some of the blame for the killing of Israeli civilians back to Israel, as in "it's their own (their own government's) fault". And that is what I have a problem with.
I haven't seen anyone point that out to defect blame from terrorists. Who do you believe is guilty of this? I haven't see one person say that the terrorists are not at fault or wrong and deserve blame.
To be precise, I haven't seen a single person who hasn't placed 100% of the blame for the crime on the terrorists.
The first thing I posted was that NOTHING excuses terrorism. I repeated again that terrorism is never justified. If there is some kind of reading problem you are having we don't have to discuss it in this thread. Feel free to e-mail me, and I will try and direct you to some different organizations that can help, if I can't give you some quick fix strategies that might work. Other than that there isn't much I can say because either you aren't reading, or aren't understanding what you read.
JVP: The best hope for ending the occupation is to support ‘the inspiring nonviolent Palestinian movement for change’ and the global BDS movement by Adam Horowitz on March 24, 2011Like 6 Retweet 4. Jewish Voice for Peace has issued the following statement on the escalation of violence in Israel/Palestine: Any act of violence, especially one against civilians, marks a profound failure of human imagination and causes a deep and abiding trauma for all involved. In mourning the nine lives lost in Gaza yesterday, and the one life lost in Jerusalem today, we reject the pattern of condemning the loss of Israeli lives while ignoring the loss of Palestinian life. We do not discriminate. Life is life. One lost life is one life too many-whether Palestinian or Israeli. ■Someone or some people (we don't know who) bombed a bus stop in Jerusalem, injuring 30 and killing 1 Israeli civilian; ■An Israeli bombing killed 3 children and an older man in Gaza; ■Someone or some people, (we don't know who), murdered 5 members of a family, including three children, in Itamar, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank; ■The Israeli government suddenly tightened the siege of Gaza and escalated military attacks, killing a total of 11 Palestinians and injuring more than 40 since mid-March;(3) ■Palestinians fired over 50 shells and rockets from Gaza into civilian areas in southern Israel. These terrible acts of violence remind us that to end the Israeli occupation our best hope is supporting the inspiring nonviolent Palestinian movement for change, in the form of unarmed protests every Friday in places like Bil’in and Ni'lin, and the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. This is a movement that respects life, that is part and parcel of the nonviolent democratic people's movements we have been inspired by throughout the Arab world, that welcomes the solidarity and support of Israeli and international believers in equality and universal human rights. This is a movement that fundamentally subverts the logic of armies, revenge and armed struggle. Because it has been so powerful, it should come as no surprise that this nonviolent resistance itself is under attack in Israel. Human rights activists are being detained or imprisoned. Bills to criminalize the BDS movement, or harass human rights organizations, are working their way through the Knesset. Just yesterday, the very act of publicly commemorating the Nakba, a crucial nonviolent act of Palestinian remembrance, was essentially criminalized in Israel. http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/jvp-t...e-and-the-global-bds-movement.html#more-39334
Okay, let's dissect what you actually posted, as you are obviously trying to twist it. This is like the typical disclaimer "Not to be racist, BUT...". As we all know, usually something racist follows. Just the same, first you say "No excuse for terrorism..." and then follow up with a bunch of excuses for terrorism. So let's see: You started with "No excuse for terrorism", then you made excuses for terrorism. You also made it clear that from your perspective, Israel is the one who "started it" and that the poor Palestinian terrorists are only "taking the bait". You also describe attacking Israel as "justified". Right. "No excuse for terrorism". Your leftist anti-Israel bias is so strong that even though you put that disclaimer there, the hate against Israel oozes from the rest of your post.
I don't get how people can't see that the Palastenian/Gazans are doing themselves a disservice by allowing these terrorists to operate amongst them. If my neighbor was lobbing mortors and hiding in his house and the response was my child's school getting bombed because it was next to his house, I'd personally take out the neighbor myself.
If you had a neighbor lobbing artillery from his home you'd keep your mouth shut or your children would be made an example of. People who are willing to do things like that wouldn't think twice about making a post-modernist exposition of your entrails. Life isn't a Charles Bronson movie.
We'll I sure as well wouldn't sit tight with my thumb up my a$$ and help hide him. And if it seriously was my child or family that died as a result of some f-head's actions, I wouldn't hesitate to take matters into my own hands, seeing as the my motivation would consume me. I'm going to assume you speak of your own cowardace.
The root cause of all these problems is Israel's illegal occupation of Arab land. The rest of the problems are simply symptoms of this root cause.
